Superhuman meaningful pastimes for the everyday cyborg

Abstract:

Abstract
In this report I argue that one of the ways in which it is possible for a person to be
capable of more meaningful achievements and to engage in more meaningful activities is
to become a cyborg. Cyborgs have enhanced abilities as a result of implants that connect
the brain to mechanical prostheses or other additions such as synthetic muscles or skin. I
argue that activities and achievements are meaningful in virtue of developing or
expressing what is most admirably ‘human’ about us and that many cybernetic
enhancements allow for the substantial development or expression of our valuably human
capacities. Since I suspect that there would be considerable resistance to the idea that
becoming a cyborg could contribute meaning to a life, I spend a substantial amount of
space to responding to possible objections to my account. I argue that cybernetic
enhancements need not threaten the development of virtues or other skills, or eliminate
effort or suffering. They also need not make us other than what we are to such an extent
that the meaningfulness they make possible is undermined. Furthermore, the
meaningfulness enhancements can contribute to lives need not be undermined by ethical
considerations, or by the common intuition that meaningfulness depends on how one
responds within the circumstances presented to one, not the abilities that one has.